I’ve had about 5 different interesting conversations today,
but I’m going to start from the end, because it’s what I remember the freshest.
Talking with Rochelle, I’ve come to gain a general
understanding of some of the deep social problems affecting Israel. I’ll list
what I remember and an example of each:
- Police
corruption and government corruption in general.
- Examples:
- Policemen
park illegally all the time.
- A
police officer recently arrested a Palestinian man (who was actually a car
thief). The cop beat him, brought him to the hospital, which later released him with an IV still in his arm; the policeman left the poor
guy on the side of the road, and he died from dehydration.
- Women’s
rights getting scaled backwards.
- Examples:
- Women
are socially pressured to sit on the back of the bus in Haredi
communities and to have babies very young.
- The
high cost of housing, which makes it difficult for young people to buy
homes until they’re well into their 30s or even 40s
- The
population growth of the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews), whom politicians keep in poverty in order to control them.
- Examples:
- Up
until a few years ago, this political party called Shas bought votes
by handing out “holy” coins (which had been blessed by a rabbi) to
voters.
- By ensuring that Haredim receive government subsidies and don’t have to work, they keep having babies at a very young age and remain poor and uneducated.
- A culturally ingrained self-centeredness that makes people not care about their fellow citizens
- Examples:
- Nurses
smoking in a hospital near the patients and not caring
- Construction
workers not wearing safety gear or demanding it from their employers
even after being warned
- People
being rude drivers
- Landlords
not fixing apartments for tenants because they simply don’t care
And sure, these are problems that most Western (and Middle
Eastern) countries have, but I sure didn’t learn about them in Hebrew school,
or in my broader education, for that matter.
Rochelle said that for all the statements that claim Israel is a "democracy," it's Western in some ways (e.g. it has a highly developed tech sector and an overall good healthcare system), but quite third-world in others. Like other Middle Eastern countries, politicians in Israel don't take responsibility for their actions, and just want to blame others.
Rochelle did point out some positive things happening in the
country: new scientific breakthroughs in cancer research and curing ailments
such as replacing lost cartilage, as well as environmental progress like solar
panels supplying a bunch of electricity.
However, I’d rather have a realistic picture of a nation,
even if it seems grim.
A lady I spoke with on the bus had a similar outlook. She
spoke of children being removed from their families’ homes and put in religious
boarding schools; it sounded to me like this lady was saying the kids were
being taken against their will, so I checked with Rochelle for a second
opinion. She confirmed that many children are put in boarding schools,
but usually because parents have a drug problem (or some other serious obstacle
to providing childcare), or simply have too many kids and can’t take care of
them (especially Haredi families).
While I walked along the boardwalk from the port of Tel Aviv
to old Yafo (Jaffa), I struck up a conversation with a young woman, probably
about my age; she was selling jewelry in old Yafo near the water. She has finished
serving in the IDF (though she didn’t do combat, just an alternate type of
national service), and is trying to decide what to do next. She would like to
go to the States, but getting a visa is really hard, and to get into
university, you have to take an expensive and challenging exam. She is focusing
right now on expanding her business, but thinking about doing something with
languages. Besides English, she said she was also conversational in Portuguese,
Spanish, and of course she’s fluent in Hebrew.
Her father is a Syrian Jew and her mother is descended from
Iraqi Jews. Her father was actually working alongside her and I ended up being
able to practice my Arabic with him! The young woman also spoke some Arabic and
she introduced me to a Lebanese pop singer named Nancy Arjam (note to self:
look her up on youtube).
The young woman’s name was Betty (or Bayya in Hebrew) and we
exchanged phone numbers. I hope I can meet her again.
After that, I went to the Nalagaat Center (http://www.nalagaat.org.il/home.php),
an organization that provides business and artistic opportunities for blind and
deaf Israeli citizens. It was INCREDIBLE! I ate at their Blackout Restaurant,
where you eat in total darkness, served by visually impaired waiters. I had to
move way more slowly than I usually do so I wouldn’t knock anything over, and
it made me appreciate the food I was eating. I smelled my food more intensely,
and chewed it more thoughtfully (does that sound pretentious – to “chew food
thoughtfully?”). Anyway, it was super neat. I ended up chatting with an Israeli
Arab guy named Mohammed and practicing my Arabic yet again! I hope I wasn’t too
intrusive; I asked him about his family and if the blind people at the center
had other jobs, or had worked there for a long time. He politely answered all my
questions and said that he also has a job as a masseuse, which isn’t an
uncommon profession for the visually impaired. He said that some people at the
center are going through job training programs, and others work there for just
a short while. I gave him my number and email so perhaps we can practice
Arabic/English/Hebrew again, either when I’m in Tel Aviv or over Skype. He said
he would teach me Hebrew and help me with my Arabic if I help him with his
English, and I said of course, it’s a deal. Mohammed is from up north near the
Galilee.
Okay, enough about my interesting conversations, and now
onto some philosophical wandering. While I was walking along the boardwalk, I
was debating the pros and cons of having a camera on one’s person. On the one
hand, you can capture and remember really cool moments; but on the other hand,
it sort of takes away from fully experiencing the moment, because while you’re
trying to focus on capturing the moment, some of your attention is drawn away
from it.
I saw a ton of cute stray cats that I restrained myself from
petting (remembering the time I got lice in Italy as a teenager, possibly from
petting a stray cat).
I was also debating solitude. I was thinking of calling up
the girl in my program who I’m going to meet on Friday so we can go to Barkai
together (where the program is located). She’s in Tel Aviv right now with
friends. I was feeling a bit lonely walking down the long boardwalk, but on the
other hand, being alone gave me the freedom to wander where I chose, to pause
and take a photograph, as opposed to having to divide my attention to talk with
someone else. I saw a lot of individuals sitting on rocks looking out to sea,
or reading, or fishing.
Then, there was my adventure with the Tel Aviv bus system (after
I went to the Nalagaat Center). I left the center at 8:30, but it took me
around 2-and-a-half hours to get home. I had to take 3 buses. The railway shuts
down after rush hour, which kind of sucks, but it made for some interesting
conversations on the bus (the lady I already spoke about, plus a French lady
who was SO nice and walked me nearly all the way to Rochelle’s street to make
sure I got home okay; she lives in the neighborhood).
I really had to rely on the kindness of strangers tonight to
make sure I got home. I had a basic outline of where to go; Rochelle had told
me the station I needed to transfer at, but she didn’t know which buses I
needed to take, or where the bus stops were, so I needed to figure those out
myself. And thank goodness so many Israelis speak at least some English; I feel
like I might have been lost otherwise. However, tons of foreigners in other
countries who don’t speak the local language get around without the locals
necessarily knowing English, so I’m sure I could have done it too.
Whew! I’m pretty much finished for tonight. I’ll post some
photos and then zonk out.
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